PH, Germany to ink defense pact this year

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Germany on Sunday committed to signing a defense cooperation arrangement this year, vowing to stand for the international rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region, at a time of increasing tensions between Manila and Beijing in the West Philippine Sea.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius met on Sunday and vowed to conclude a broader Arrangement on Defense Cooperation by October.

“Bilateral cooperation is crucial for both the Philippines and Germany. It also sends a clear message to our partners: The countries advocating the rules-based international order stand together,” said Pistorius, who is winding down a tour of the Indo-Pacific that included stops in Hawaii and South Korea, to demonstrate Berlin’s presence in the strategically important region. It marked the first time that a German defense minister visited Manila as the two countries marked 70 years of diplomatic relations.

“Our stance is clear: All countries must be able to enjoy freedom of navigation regardless of their economic strength or geographic size,” he added, but said their engagements in the region were “not directed against anybody.”

Teodoro and Pistorius committed to establishing long-term relations between their Armed Forces to expand training and bilateral exchanges, explore opportunities to expand bilateral armaments cooperation and engage in joint projects.

Potential arms supplier

During the visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Germany in March, the two countries agreed to expand cooperation on several fields, including defense.

Pistorius is scheduled to meet with Marcos on Monday.

“We want to build long-lasting relations between our Armed Forces and we want to learn from each other,” Pistorius said at a joint news conference with Teodoro. Berlin is offering armaments for air defense, coastal defense and transport aircraft to beef up the Philippine military capabilities.

“We have to highlight once more that defense cooperation is more than armament cooperation. So we talked a lot … about cooperation with regard to training, training officers, training staff and so on … We will talk about what is possible in terms of our armament cooperation in exchange for supporting each other. These will be the next steps,” he said.

Teodoro said it was “too premature to say” whether the agreement would result in a Visiting Forces Agreement in the future.

The Philippines will also be looking to Germany “as a possible supplier” of its defense capabilities, he said.

“These are in the command and control, anti-access aerial denial, maritime domain, aerial domain and in higher technologically capable equipment,” Teodoro said. Mr. Marcos approved the military’s revised wish list for new weaponry and equipment, called Re-Horizon 3, late last year.

The Philippines also plans to post its first defense attaché to Germany, he added.

Germany is one of the Philippines’ oldest formal defense partners through the 1974 Administrative Agreement on Training of Armed Forces of the Philippines Personnel in Germany.

Teodoro said the Philippines has invited Germany to conduct “a maritime cooperative activity (MCA), a joint sail or a passing exercise” together with Berlin’s naval ships that will be visiting Manila in the coming months.

Manila has been conducting MCA in the West Philippine Sea with its closest security partners such as the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan, to uphold freedom of navigation and overflight.

Indo-Pacific interests

Pistorius also reiterated Germany’s support of the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that rejected China’s sweeping claims over the South China Sea.

Manila and Berlin are deepening military ties as tensions have flared in recent months between China and the Philippines, which have traded accusations over run-ins in disputed areas of the South China Sea, including charges China intentionally rammed Manila’s navy boats, seriously injuring a Filipino sailor.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including areas claimed as exclusive economic zones by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said Beijing’s claims had no legal basis. China rejects that decision.

“This ruling remains valid, without any exceptions,” said Pistorius. “It is our obligation to strengthen the maritime border and we are living up to it.”

The South China Sea is a vital trade route with more than $3 trillion in shipborne trade passing through it every year.

Teodoro said the Philippines was not provoking China and did not seek war, but reiterated Manila’s stance that China is “the only one source of conflict in the South China Sea, particularly the West Philippine Sea,” based on its “nebulous and unfounded claim of historic rights.”

“They always claim they have indisputable sovereignty and jurisdiction over all these areas against all norms of international law,” he pointed out.